Iamblichus: On the Mysteries · 216 of 218 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Chapter VIII-bd
The joint risings and settings.
145 .
i.
e.
Through a period of 300,000 years; and Procl.
in Tim.
lib.
iv.
p.
277, informs us that the Chaldeans had observations of the stars which embraced whole mundane periods.
What Proclus likewise asserts of the Chaldeans is confirmed by Cicero in his first book on Divination, who says that they had records of the stars for the space of 370,000 years; and by Diodorus Siculus, Bibl.
lib.
xi.
p.
118, who says that their observations comprehended the space of 473,000 years.
146 .
“We say,” says Hephestion, “that a star is the lord of the geniture, which has five conditions of the lord of the nativity in the horoscope; viz.
if that star receives the luminaries in their proper boundaries, in their proper house, in their proper altitude, and in the proper triangle.” He also adds, “and if besides it has contact, effluxion, and configuration.” See likewise Porphyry in Ptolemæum, p.
191.
147 .
According to the Egyptians every one received his proper dæmon at the hour of his birth; nor did they ascend any higher, in order to obtain a knowledge of it.
For they alone considered the horoscope.
See Porphyry apud Stobæum, p.
201, and Hermes in Revolut.
cap.
iv.
148 .
In the original ενταυθα δε ουν και η της αληθειας παρεστι θεα, και η της νοερας επιστημης .
But instead of η της νοερας απιστημης , which appears to me to be defective, I read η κτησις της νοερας επιστημης .
149 .
For θεωτος here, I read θεωτερος .
150 .
In the original, by a strange mistake, των θνητων is inserted here instead of των νοητων , which is obviously the true reading.
The version of Gale also has intelligibilium .
151 .
i.
e.
Man, considered as a rational soul, connected with the irrational life; for this man has dominion in the realms of generation.
152 .
See the second edition of this work in Nos.
XV.
and XVI.
of the Pamphleteer.
153 .
i.
e.
Of natures which are not connected with body.
154 .
For in these, all are in each, but not all in all.
155 .
By an unaccountable mistake here του σωματος is inserted instead of της ψυχης ; but the mistake is not noticed by the German editor of these Scholia.
156 .
And in consequence of this mistake, for αυτο in this place, we must read αυτα .
157 .
Odyss.
xi.
612.
158 .
Iliad xv.
605.
159 .
For μουσικης here, it is necessary to read μαντικης .
160 .
And for μαντικην read μαντικη .
161 .
For υπο here, it is necessary to read υπερ .
162 .
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The passage details astrological conditions (luminaries, house, altitude) that determine a star's lordship over geniture, reflecting the cosmic mapping principle.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage emphasizes the Egyptian practice of receiving one's dæmon at birth and possessing 'νοερας επιστημης' (intellectual knowledge) as a direct divine gift.